


Avoidance

by Fwsw



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Coming Out, D/s, Dom Tony Stark, Engineering is NOT art, F/M, M/M, Okay maybe it is a little, Protective Tony, Sam Wilson is Not a Therapist, Steve Rogers has the worst timing, Sub Steve Rogers, based on a meme
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2020-10-10 19:23:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20533283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fwsw/pseuds/Fwsw
Summary: Things are going great for Steve he's an art major with a beautiful girlfriend and he's about to have dinner with her Aunt, his childhood hero.It's a shame he already met her Uncle on Grindr.Inspiration taken from the "Her gay father I met on Grindr" meme floating around





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm bad at English and this hasn't been proof read, sooo good luck.

“Your clothes are fine, your hair is fine, _you’re_ fine. Now stop worrying, anyone would think that you’re going to meet the president” Sharon rolled her eyes as Steve ‘straightened’ his tie for the 5th time since they’d left his apartment, the same tie that she’d told him was completely unnecessary, but the man was Stubborn (with a capital s).

Steve glared at her slightly as he pulled his hands away from his tie and held back a sarcastic response. He may not be meeting the president, but Peggy Carter was his childhood hero, the founder of SHIELD, a global security service that worked towards the eradication of violent crime, war and discrimination. Steve had applied 8 times before he went to college, Peggy Carter was a global hero, but most importantly, she was his girlfriend’s Aunt and the first member of her family that he was allowed to meet.

“Come on, I promise she won’t bite” Sharon teased as she stood in the open doorway (when had _that_ happened?) and held her hand out for him to take. Steve took a deep breath, plastered on his ‘sweet, Brooklyn boy’ smile, the one Buck had always said could help him get away with murder, and pushed the nerves all the way down into his shoes where they couldn’t get in the way. Then reached out and took her hand.

Peggy Carter it turned out, was _adorable_. The internet, media and history books, had all focused (quite rightly) on how fierce and strong she was, on how she was a woman that would stare down death and get the job done. None of that had prepared him for her to squeal “oh my gosh this must be your new man!” and instantly hug him. Steve may have missed the wink Peggy sent Sharon and the returning eye roll as she subtly felt up her niece’s boyfriend. Peggy eventually let go and smirked at Sharon, “You’ve done well with him dear”.

“I agree, maybe I should spend more time on Campus if this is what students look like.” All thoughts of being hugged by his childhood hero vanished when Steve heard the man’s voice from the stairs and looked up to see his face. Sharon beamed up at the man and ran towards him, diving into a hug.

“Uncle Tony! I didn’t know you were here!” And the nerves were back.

Uncle Tony and Sharon walked back towards the group; Steve felt like he was going to throw up. Tony smirked at Steve, the smile not quite covering the threats swimming in his eyes. Steve took another deep breath and held out a hand to shake “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir”.

Tony snorted as he reciprocated the handshake, his fingers stroking almost imperceptibly across Steve’s “You don’t have to call me ‘Sir’, Tony will do, unless you’re into that.” A grin stretched across Tony’s face as he winked, causing a flush of red to spread across Steve’s face. “And now we know you’re pretty when you blush”. The red got worse.

“Uncle Tony! Stop flirting with my boyfriend! You’re embarrassing him.” Sharon was clearly trying to keep the smile off her face whilst she admonished her uncle. However, the sight of a tomato red Steve staring awkwardly at his shoes made that a lot harder than it should have been, and she couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped causing Steve to half-heartedly glare at her.

“Fiiine, fine if you want to be boring, so when did you two lovebirds meet?” Steve could feel Tony’s eyes boring into him, but he kept his eyes on Sharon as she took his hand and explained their meeting 2 years previously living across from each other in student halls. Steve felt himself twitching slightly as the glare directed at him grew heavier and heavier.

“But we didn’t go on our first date until 3 weeks ago.” Steve squeezed Sharon’s hand in relief as Tony relaxed at that news and stopped glaring at him. “I got tired of waiting him to make a move so asked him out” 

“Well you never were one to wait for others to do something you could do yourself” Peggy teased. 

“Then a week later I asked Sharon to be my girlfriend, and I was lucky enough that she said yes.” Steve looked softly down at Sharon, some of the previous nerves finally starting to fade away.

“How sweet.” Tony drawled.

“Now should we go through to the dining room?” Peggy didn’t wait for an answer and began herding the group into the dining room, whilst subtly pulling Tony toward the back of the group, where the young couple couldn’t see the dirty look she threw at him. She seated Steve and Sharon together and Tony opposite in Sharon in the hopes in would encourage him to be on better behaviour, then headed to the kitchen to fetch their dinner, ignoring both Sharon and Steve’s offers of help.

Steve looked down at his plate, this wasn’t too bad, he could get through this. It was just a dinner with his new girlfriend, his childhood hero and the guy he met on grindr and exchanged dick pics with. Totally normal, not awkward at all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not proof read, let me know if anything is obviously wrong

“Would it be alright if I use your bathroom before I leave?” The dinner had gone surprising well, at no point did Tony bring up Steve’s penis, which was a win. It had been nearly pleasant, if you ignored to borderline interrogation Tony had instigated and the awkward moments when he’d explained he’d applied to SHIELD multiple times before deciding on studying art, which had lead to having to show pictures of himself as a child to prove how scrawny he used to be. It did mean that he got to hear first-hand about how Peggy set up the organisation, though he suspected that was her way of stopping the sarcastic remarks from Tony about him being an art major. After the meal had finished, Tony had excused himself to do some work in the study, leaving the other three to talk about how college was going for Steve and Sharon.

“Of course, just head up the stairs, turn left and it’s at the end of the corridor.” As he started up the stairs, he caught Sharon turning towards Peggy and asking about Tony’s behaviour, so there went his hopes that it was normal for Tony and not just because of Steve. 

After concluding his business and washing his hands, thoroughly, Steve started making his way back to the stairs only to be pulled through a door into what he assumed was Tony’s study. Before he could get his bearings, Steve was slammed into a wall with Tony’s finger rammed in his face.

“I was *really* happy when my little Sharon said she was bringing home a boyfriend, so imagine my surprise when it was you that walked through the door. Cos from my experience she’s not exactly your type. You better not be using her to protect your closeted ass.” Tony growled at him.

“I’m not! I, um, I’m, um, fuck I’ve never said this out loud before” A mildly hysterical laugh slipped out. “I’m bi, bisexual I mean, I like Sharon, like a lot.” The arm ‘pinning’ him in place relaxed a little, Steve could have easily walked out of the hold, but he figured Tony deserved this interrogation. Besides it felt, kinda nice?

“Okay, that’s good, but this is all still a helluva coincidence. You match with me, get some dick pics and then less than a month later you’re ‘dating’ Sharon and managing to wrangle an invite here? If this is some attempt at blackmail, you better walk out that door right now and never talk to her again cos trust me the world has seen my dick often enough that you leaking some pictures doesn’t faze me, but my lawyers *will* crush you.” Steve flushed at the reminder of their previous ‘relationship’, but the rest just confused him.

“Why would I leak pictures of you? I mean that’s wrong on so many levels and I never would with anyone I promise, but like why you especially? I thought people only did that with celebrities for money or fame or to get revenge on an ex or something?” Tony froze, his eyes narrowing, Steve couldn’t be this oblivious, could he?

“What’s my last name?”

“Carter…?” Oh gods, he was. How in Thor’s name did Sharon pick someone this… dumb? “Oh… I get it. People might try and get at Peggy through you, I don’t think you have to worry though cos I didn’t even know she *had* a brother. Well I’m assuming brother not husband cos otherwise this is all very hypocritical.”

Tony snorted and stepped away from Steve so he could move towards the door and kick Steve out. “Peggy isn’t my wife.”

“You don’t have to worry though, I can’t leak the photos, I mean I wouldn’t but also I can’t cos I already deleted them. I didn’t want anyone finding them by accident…” Tony paused reaching for the door handle and nodded, before opening the door to reveal Sharon on the other side. Steve turned sheet white, his hands visibly shaking at having gotten caught. Tony placed his hand on the small of Steve’s back and pushed him forwards and out of the room.

“Well you can have your boyfriend back now, with my blessing and everything.” Tony slammed the door behind them, leaving Steve to bluff his way out. After all stress builds character or something like that.

“With his blessing?! We don’t need his blessing! Urgh, I’m sorry Steve I don’t know why he’s been such an asshole to you.” Sharon grabbed Steve’s hand leading him down the stairs, she seemed more upset by Tony’s comment to her than anything else, maybe she didn’t hear everything? “What were you two talking about in there anyway?”

“Couldn’t you hear? I mean you were right by the door.” 

“Aunt Peggy’s office is soundproof, for when she has important SHIELD business.” All the tension left Steve’s body at once, making him stumble of the last step and have to flail slightly to not fall and drag Sharon down with him. Sharon laughed and pulled him in for a hug “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, pride is a bit bruised though. Tony just wanted to make sure I was going to look after you, so probably a good thing he didn’t see that.” At this point Steve was 90% certain he’d spent more of the afternoon blushing and making a fool of himself than not. “I should probably leave before I embarrass myself even more. Please thank Peggy again for me.”

“You’re welcome! Come back any time!” A muffled voice came from the next room, making the couple laugh as Steve, finally, left. He pulled out his phone as soon as he was out of sight and texted Sam. 

He was definitely going to need some free therapy after this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So word decided to delete the second section of this chapter so it's a tad rushed. Also I was aiming to post a chapter a week but the next chapter probably won't be up for a while cos life sucks and I probably should have written more buffer before posting

“Wow, so um, wow.” That was pretty much all Sam had said in the past 5 minutes since Steve had explained the situation. “Sorry, it’s just a lot to take in. So, um, you’re bisexual? That’s news, not, not bad news, but um news. I glad you feel comfortable telling me that?”

“You’re gonna be such a great therapist Sam.” Steve drawled sarcastically. Sam snorted.

“Yeah cos a year of college is enough to prepare me for the shit storm you just dropped in my lap. Give me a couple minutes to get things straightened out.” Sam took a deep breath and flopped back on the bed he was sat on. “You know my area of expertise is trauma not my grindr date is my girlfriend’s uncle, halp pls.”

“Are you honestly saying this wasn’t traumatic.” Sam nodded in concession, though not quite the kind of trauma he meant. “And we never went on a date, we just…talked.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Steve sat up from where he was lying on the floor and threw his pillow at Sam’s head. “Okay, okay, remembering I’m not even slightly qualified and we do have *actual* therapists on campus, this is how I see it:

“Option 1: Denial, if Tony says something flat out deny it, say you have an identical twin you don’t talk to, fake it til you make it, or more realistically until everything blows up in your face

“Option 2: Avoidance, don’t tell Sharon anything, avoid Tony at all costs and hope everything ends up sunshine and rainbows.

“Option 3: Bargaining, bribe Tony into saying nothing and hope you have something he’s interested in (well something else that he’s interested in).

“Option 4: Depression, don’t do anything, mope around on my floor doing absolutely nothing until you fail out of college and get dumped.

“Option 5: Acceptance, tell Sharon that you’re bi and had a meaningless fling with her Uncle before the two of you started dating and hope she’s okay with that.”

Steve frowned at the list, none of them sounded particularly effective or appealing, though it did sound a bit familiar. “Wait! Aren’t those the 5 stages of grief?”

“I mixed it up a little but yeah, trauma counsellor Steve, what were you expecting? But seriously, honesty is the best policy, it’s better to tell her now than for Tony to get drunk at your wedding and announce to the whole place he’s touched your dick.”

“He’s never touched my dick! I told you we never met up, until today…” Steve sighed. “I know what I’m going to do.”

“Yeah?” Sam was weary, Steve and good decisions weren’t the best mix.

“Well I have always liked sunshine and rainbows.” Sam threw the pillow back at him.

“Yeah that’s gonna work out so well for you.”

“You’re the first person I’ve told that I’m bi, well first person that wasn’t threatening me, I’m not ready to tell anyone else. Now in line with avoidance, want to play COD? You can call it research if it makes you feel better.”

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---   
Avoidance worked surprisingly well, until it didn’t. For six months Steve and Sharon went on dates every couple weeks, their relationship moved smoothly with no Tony shaped interferences. But apparently Steve had made an impact on Peggy, and there was only so many times he could turn down dinner offers claiming to be too busy with studies. So that’s how he ended up on Peggy’s doorstep praying to God that Tony wasn’t in whilst waiting for Sharon to let him in. 

Clearly the universe hated him, because it wasn’t Sharon that opened the door. Steve faltered in his step forward to embrace her, when he realised it was actually Tony stood in front of him. Tony raised his eyebrows and snorted in amusement when he saw Steve almost stumble away from him, then turned around and walked away leaving the door open in what Steve assumed was an invitation to come in. He resisted the urge to rest his head into the door as he shut it, somehow it felt like this was going to be even more awkward than the last time he was here.

“Steve!” Sharon practically squealed his name as she launched herself at him. Steve caught her and span the two of them around for a moment before bending down to place her feet back on the floor and place a sweet kiss on her lips. Sharon reached her arms up to wrap her arms around Steve’s neck, whispering “Hi” as she pulled him into another kiss.

“If you two are done being disgustingly sweet, food is on the table.” Tony was leaning against the doorway into the dinning room, clearly trying to hold back his laughter as Steve flinched at his voice.

Steve pulled away from Sharon in embarrassment, it would have been bad enough being caught by Peggy, but it being Tony added that extra hint of uncomfortableness. Sharon turned around, placing her hands on her hips to glare at her Uncle. “Do you have to insist on making Steve uncomfortable every time you see him?” 

Tony wilted slightly at Sharon’s tone, his smirk dropping slightly before he shrugged and grinned again. “Well your father is on the other side of the country, and somebody has to do it.” Tony turned and walked back into the living room, Sharon sighed and shot Steve an apologetic look which he waved off. He was 90% certain Tony’s behaviour was more his fault than Sharon’s.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while but life got... hard
> 
> Also I know nothing about American colleges, or art degrees, so pretend that this is how they actually work

“How does an art major even get busy? Just slap some paint on a canvas and say it represents your childhood.” Tony snarked when Steve apologised for not having come around sooner. Peggy and Sharon both glared at him across the table and Peggy kicked him swiftly in the shin, Steve just laughed. Tony’s heart skipped a beat, from the shock of Steve laughing, not because it was the first time that Steve had smiled at _him_ and the grin lit up his face.

“Guessing you’re not a huge fan of the arts?” Steve teased him, “It’s not all just painting though. We have to document the process, make sketches, photographs, and then there’s things like art history, colour theory, digital manipulation as well as other modules like psych and physics.”

Tony nearly choked on his drink “Physics?! What the hell has physics got to do with art?”

“It’s an elective, you don’t have to understand how light works to capture it, but it definitely helps. Knowing how to calculate centre of gravity helps with statues and installation pieces and dynamics calculations can help with realistic positioning of moving objects without having to find or make the perfect reference. My last project was on sports and knowing how to calculate the flight path of a soccer ball is a lot easier and less time consuming than having to find someone who can kick the ball in the exact direction you want whilst you hang out of a tree to be at the right height to get a photo.” Sharon snorted slightly, whilst it wasn’t common, it wasn’t completely unheard of to be walking to a lecture and see someone with a camera lying on the floor, squatting in a tree or on top of a building trying to get the right shot. Steve reached out and squeezed her hand. “Besides it’s fun.”

“Steve’s really smart you know.” Sharon said softly, looking at Steve with pride as he ducked his head in embarrassment.

“It seems that way, but unless things have changed a lot since I was in high school, I don’t remember art and sport really mixing. Though I guess you’re probably an exception.” Tony dragged his eyes up and down Steve’s chest with a smirk, then jolted when Peggy kicked him again. At this rate he was going to need a new shin. Peggy probably had a point about him flirting with Steve though, as entertaining (and adorable) as it was to watch the tips of his ears turn pink and the slight flush in his cheeks, Sharon didn’t look too happy and the last thing Tony wanted was to upset her.

“Art isn’t a set of topics, it’s a way you see the world. It’s about finding something you’re interested in or think is important and showing it to the world so they can see what you see. Anything can be art, it’s not all Mona Lisa, Starry nights or The Persistence of Memory. You seem to be more inclined towards science so let’s use engineering as an example.” Tony’s eyes narrowed and Peggy and Sharon glanced at each other, this was not going to end well. 

“Engineering has nothing to do with art.” Steve reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone showing it to Tony.

“I know it’s rude to get a phone out at the dinner table so sorry about this.” Steve smiled apologetically at Peggy. “So are you honestly saying there’s a functional reason for the edges being curved like this? For the colour schemes?”

“Curved edges reduce injury and colour is product design _not_ engineering”__

_ __ _

_ __ _

“A half inch radius is needed to prevent injury? Really? And the processes involved in producing different colour materials have nothing to do with engineering?” Tony grumbled, and looked down at his dinner, whilst Steve smirked at him. “What about prosthetics? There’s no way you can say they don’t involve engineering and some of the ones being produced are definitely art. Have you heard of Scott Summit? His company 3d printed prosthetic fairings that are _beautiful_. 3d printing in general, I know it’s flawed but it’s an engineering device and it creates functional and aesthetic devices.” 

Tony snorted and raised his hands “Okay, okay, I get it, there’s beauty in the world” 

“Well, now that that’s settled and you’ve both proven how smart you are, perhaps we can discuss a topic everyone can get involved in?” Peggy raised her eyebrow and she stared them both down. Steve flushed as he realised how Tony and he had completely monopolised the conversation for the past 10 minutes. He squeezed Sharon’s hand and squeaked out a sorry. 

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

“What the hell was that?” Peggy turned to Tony as soon as Steve and Sharon had left to go on a walk. “You’ve been nothing but rude to and about Steve since Sharon brought him home. You switch between flirting with him _in front of Sharon_ and being bordering on aggressive, if this is you being ‘protective’ you can bloody well stop.” __

_ __ _

_ __ _

“It’s complicated, okay?” Tony sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, walking back into the dining room. “And it’s between me and him, nobody else needs to get involved.” 

Peggy stormed after him. “Sharon is my niece and I love her as if she was my own daughter. She is getting hurt in this Tony, so don’t you _dare_ tell me not to get involved.” 

“She’s going to get hurt either way! I’m just trying to minimise the damage.” Tony sank down into a chair, resting his elbows on the table as he rubbed his hands over his face. 

“Tony? What’s going on? I’m starting to get worried.” 

“I knew Steve before she brought him home. Well I knew _parts_ of him.” At Peggy’s confused look Tony groaned and carried on. “We matched on grindr about a month before they started dating, we exchanged… ‘pictures’ for a few weeks. I was going to ask him to meet up but he stopped replying.” 

“Oh.” Peggy reached out, resting her hand on the tabletop to brace herself. “This conversation needs considerably more gin.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scott Summit is actually really cool, seriously, being able to design stuff like his work is life goals


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was 100% not planned, but it felt a bit rushed going from last chapter straight to the next one. Plus who doesn't want more Sam? Sam's only flaw is that Steve doesn't listen to him.

There was only 6 weeks until his end of year project was due in, and then only another week until the gallery to display all the classes work in front of anyone at the university who had any interest in attending. Steve had nothing. Well not nothing, he’s been taking photographs and making sketches, but none of it linked together, he had no overarching plan, no motivation. He’s told Tony that art was about showing the world something you were interested in and right now everything was _fine_, but nothing was interesting, nothing was jumping out and yelling at him to show the world.

Sam snorted as Steve sat on his floor and explained it to him, “maybe don’t tell your girlfriend that _nothing_ is interesting, she might be a bit offended.”

“Ha ha. I can’t exactly use Sharon in my project. This is serious Sam! I’m going to fail this module and have to retake and then I’ll fail that because I have nothing! No plans, no inspiration, no anything, and 6 weeks isn’t enough to fix that and create the amount of work that I need to justify a gallery worth of art.” His words sped up as he talked, his breath coming faster until he was hyperventilating. Sam launched himself off his bed and crouched in front of Steve.

“Whoa, calm down Steve. Deep breaths. C’mon, lets sit on the bed, you can put your head between your legs, and we’ll talk this out.” Sam rubbed his hand up and down Steve’s back whilst he manoeuvred Steve into a better position. “Okay, first, based off knowing you and your art over the past 2 years, you’re not going to fail. If things are as bad as you’re making out, you might not get the best grade, but you’ll still pass and that’s okay. Secondly, inspiration hits when you least expect it, so just take a step back for a couple days, do some _not art related_ things you enjoy. Go for a walk, bake some cookies, ride your bike, see Sharon, _relax_. And third, why can’t you use Sharon in your project? I’ve never seen her be self-conscious of having her image out there, I mean she’s in a lot of club publicity shots. Plenty of artists have ‘muses’ and I know it’s not really your thing, but portraits are art too.”

Steve scrubbed his hands over his face, his breathing was still faster than normal, but he wasn’t on the edge of triggering an asthma attack, so he guessed that was improvement. “It would be a bit creepy wouldn’t it? To have an entire gallery installation of paintings and sketch of or about one person.”

Sam snorted and raised his eyebrow. “Sure, unless you know you’ve been dating them for months. Besides it doesn’t have to be an entire gallery of just Sharon, throw in some stuff she likes too, maybe if you ask nicely you could paint Peggy too. Have generations as a theme? Or SHIELD? I mean everyone knows you love them.”

Steve frowned, it made sense, he could think of multiple directions he could take a project like that. Logically it made sense, Sharon wouldn’t mind, she’d teased him a couple of times about when she was going to be the focus of his art, and he had plenty of photos of her already so it wouldn’t take much of her time. He could have Sharon in Peggy’s old uniform next to an old photo of Peggy. He sighed. “It doesn’t feel right. I know that sounds really dumb, it’s a great idea, but it’s like part of my mind has already decided what I need to do and it’s just waiting for the rest to catch up.”

“You have to hand in something though, and it’s like you said 6 weeks isn’t that long, you might need to throw out your perfectionism for once and just go for something. Besides, you could use it as an excuse to ask to draw Sharon like one of your French girls.” Sam wiggled his eyebrows and grinned at Steve, who unsurprisingly flushed red and stammered out a refusal. “I’m not saying put it in the gallery, but it would probably help you relax.”

“How would that help me relax? She’d be _naked_.” Steve hissed out.

“Well yeah, but you have to have painted nude models before, right? And it’s not like you’re bad at art so you’re not going to accidentally insult her.” 

“I’ve painted nude models, but they’re not Sharon!”

“Wait, have you not seen her naked yet?” The shy ducking of Steve’s head was all the answer Sam needed. “Why? There’s nothing wrong with that, but you’re in your twenties, been dating for months, neither of you is holding out for marriage… It’s unusual. I just want to make sure it’s not because of the whole Tony thing.”

Steve’s head shot up. “Did you have to bring him up now? It’s not because of him. I just, what if I do it wrong? What if I’m really bad and she dumps me?”

“There are so many things wrong with that sentence. Sharon isn’t going to dump you for being inexperienced in bed because she’s not a terrible person. Are you a virgin then? I thought with the whole grindr thing that you had experience.”

“Not with women. Or in person” Steve was starting to get a bit twitchy; this wasn’t the conversation he was expecting when he came to see Sam. Art ideas, sure, explaining that he was a virgin and was too scared to have sex with his girlfriend, not so much.

“Steve, that’s okay. You know that’s okay right?” Steve shrugged slightly, refusing to look at Sam. “Just tell Sharon, she’s a good person, she’s not going to judge you.”

“Can we talk about something else? Literally anything else? What about you? You must have some mess in your life we can dissect instead.” 

Sam snorted at the attempt at a subject change. “Afraid not Stevie, you are the only mess in my life.”

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

“Peggy?” Sharon wandered into the living room where her Aunt was sat. “Where did Tony go? I need to talk to him about Steve.”

Peggy took a slight breath to hide the guilt that swelled inside her, being an ex-spy had its perks “He’s gone back home. He said he’s sorry about how he treated you and Steve. He’s just tense from things  
at work and from how things went with Pepper.”

Sharon deflated slightly “And he didn’t think it would be nice to say that to my face?”

Peggy smiled softly “Well you know your Uncle, he’s always running from something or other.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So um had a bit of a relapse with mental health issues which made writing this chapter difficult, so that's why it's been so long and why parts probably read differently to normal, there was a lot of stop starting but I didn't want to delete or it would never get written.  
As normal it's not been proofread

“Would you like to come back to mine for coffee?” 

“Steve, we literally just went out for coffee.” Steve closed his eyes and ducked his head in embarrassment, it had just come out and he’d put no thought into what he’d actually said. It worked in the films so he just blurted it out. Luckily Sharon was used to his occasional ineptitude with words and moved towards his bike, then turned back towards him with a grin on her face and reached out for the spare helmet. “Well are we going back to your place or not?”

Steve didn’t normally have difficulty opening his door, but then again, he didn’t normally have Sharon wrapped around him, trailing kisses up neck whilst he did it. Eventually the door clicked open and they fell through it, Steve span around, his hands coming to rest on her hips. His fingers brushed at the base of Sharon’s top, dipping under to graze across her bare skin. Sharon backed away slightly, reaching back with her arm to push the door shut then grabbed Steve by the collar pulling him down until their lips crashed together. A whimper left Steve’s throat and he dove into the kiss, walking Sharon back until her back was pressed against the door.

Steve broke the kiss, his breathe coming in pants as Sharon shoved her hands up the back of his shirt, scraping her nails down back before starting to pull the shirt over his head. Steve let go of her waist so that he could rip the shirt the rest of the way off and throw it into the corner so that he could get his hands back on Sharon’s waist. Sharon gasped slightly, reaching out hesitantly to place her hand on his chest, her eyes blown wide as she swallowed. “So… Um… T-this is great, but do you have a… A bed we can move to before I mount you right here?”

They moved further into the apartment, Steve occasionally turning them away from a table or wall, slowly directing them towards the bedroom without pulling away from each other. Sharon kept alternating between scraping her nails down his back and soothing the skin with her fingertips, sending sparks though Steve at the slight edge of pain. He pushed deeper into the kiss. Steve stumbled back into the edge of the bed, letting go of Sharon to fling his arms out and regain his balance. Sharon pulled back from the kiss and smirked, pulling away and laid her hands on his chest, spread her fingers out and pushed. Steve fell back onto the bed and propped himself up on his elbows, reaching up to brush his hair out of the way. 

Sharon bit her lip as she dragged her eyes over Steve’s body, she’d known he was fit, but knowing it and seeing him spread out on a bed like a pin up model were very different things. She pulled slightly at the edges of her top before looking Steve in the eye and pulling it up and over her head, the top covered her eyes, but she still heard the sharp intake of breath Steve made as her chest was uncovered. She let the top drop to the floor and climbed onto the bed, straddling Steve’s hips, she put her hands on his stomach pushing them up towards his shoulders, feeling every inch of muscle and following the path with her eyes. She finally looked up to meet Steve’s eyes, his pupils were blown, he looked wild, he looked _terrified_. Sharon sat up, putting space between them. “Steve are you…”

“I’m bi.” Steve blurted out, looked slightly manic, like he couldn’t understand his own words. Sharon pulled back slightly, so she was still straddling Steve but not sat on him.

“I… Um… Okay? I mean, I don’t understand why you’re bringing that up now.” Sharon let out a small awkward laugh. “I don’t have a problem with that, if that’s what you’re worried about?”

“I mean, I thought I was bi.” Steve started to shuffle backwards, Sharon took the hint and climbed off him, sitting on the edge of the bed as Steve sat up and drew his knees into his chest. “I thought I was, but I…” 

Steve gestured to his crotch; his current position meant that Sharon couldn’t see anything but she assumed he meant he was still soft. “Oh Steve, that’s alright, it’s normal. Anxiety can make it harder to get an erection, especially if it’s your first time, it’s okay, it’s not something to have a sexuality crisis over. Sexuality isn’t about who you have sex with, it’s who you’re attracted to.” She tried to smile reassuringly and reached out to cover Steve’s hand.

“I don’t find you attractive.” Sharon’s hand froze mid-air, suddenly she felt cold, like she was hyper aware of the fact she was half naked in front of who she assumed was now her ex-boyfriend. She reached down and grabbed her top, quickly pulling it on. “Oh god I’m sorry, I…I didn’t mean it like that, god you’re beautiful, you have to know that. I just… I never had a problem with him… Not that I’ve had sex with a guy, it was just texts… Oh god I shouldn’t be telling you this, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Sharon could feel something in her ache. She’d know Steve for years, she’d heard him talk about never knowing his father, about his mother’s death, about learning his best friend had been murdered, but she’d never seen him look this _broken_. “It’s okay. Well no it’s not okay, you have frankly the worst timing ever, but it’s okay that you’re gay.”

Steve flinched at that word. “Is it? Cos it doesn’t feel like it is, it took me _years_ to be vaguely okay with being bi, before you, only 2 people knew, Sam and… someone else. And now I’m not. God the only way I could even consider being okay with interacting with a guy in that way was by setting the age range too high to pick up anyone I knew at college.” Steve laughed slightly hysterically, 5 minutes ago he was going to lose his virginity to his amazing girlfriend, and now he had broken her heart and was rubbing it in by talking about being on Grindr, what was wrong with him? “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. I’m sorry, I do love you I really do, just not the right way and I don’t”

“Steve Rogers!” Sharon growled out. “If you don’t stop apologising for being gay, I will hit you with something. I’m not saying this doesn’t hurt, there was a small part of me that thought that this would be it, that you were ‘the one’. But I don’t hate you or anything, I don’t begrudge you learning to be comfortable with who you are. I’m probably not the best person to be talking to about this, and once I walk out that door I probably won’t want to see you for a couple days, but I love you and I don’t think you have anyone else to talk to at the moment so I refuse to leave you alone.” Sharon reached out again and put her hand on Steve’s. Steve let out a small sob. “I just, you mentioned a guy, you weren’t, you know… when we were together…?”

“No! I…I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t do that to you. He wouldn’t do that to you. It was weeks before we went on a date. I never meant to hurt you though, I would never purposely hurt you.” Sharon frowned slightly.

“He wouldn’t hurt me? I know him?” Steve froze, realising his mistake. “I don’t know many people outside of College here, pretty much the only people I know outside of school are my Aunt and… Oh god, Tony? You _sexted_ Tony?”

“I didn’t know he was your uncle. I didn’t I swear.” Sharon pulled her hand away and stood up, pacing away from the bed before turning and glaring at Steve.

“So much make sense now. Why he kept flirting with you. How you ended up in Peggy’s office with him when you were going to the toilet.” Sharon ignored Steve’s protests. “Why he was so angry about us and then why he ran away! It was all because you’d had a relationship and were hiding it from me! God Steve! You lied to me, for months you’ve lied to me. I can’t believe you.”

Sharon deflated and scrubbed her hand over her face. Steve jumped off the bed and edged towards her. “It wasn’t a relationship, it was just a couple pictures, I didn’t want to ruin us by telling you.”

“And that worked out so well. I’m going home. Don’t contact me. I can deal with a lot of things Steve, but not only have you just chosen when I was half naked on top of you to realise you don’t find me attractive, you and someone I’ve known my whole life have lied to me for over 6 months. I deserve more respect than that, so don’t contact me.” Sharon moved towards the front door, but before she could open it Steve blocked the exit.

“Wait, let me walk you home. You’re upset and angry, it’s not a good idea to head back by yourself.” 

Sharon slapped him.

“I am not a child, so stop being so patronising. I’ll text you when I get home if that makes you happy but I can’t be around you any more, because right now you’re just 6 months I spent in a lie and if you ever want there to be a chance that we can be friends or even civil you need to leave me alone.” The door slammed behind her and Steve sank to the floor.

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

Sharon closed the door to Peggy’s house and let out a small sob as she slid to the ground. She’d managed to keep it together for the whole walk home, but now she couldn’t hold back any longer and broke down. She vaguely heard someone call her name and felt arms wrap around her. Part of her registered that it was her Aunt and she managed to whimper out “Steve. Tony”.

Peggy sighed and pulled her niece closer; she’d naively hoped that with Tony out of the picture things would last. “I know sweetheart, I’m sorry”.

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

Sam was about to start reading a handout on coping mechanisms when his phone pinged. “Avoidance didn’t work” He sighed and threw the handout back in his bag as he texted back “I’ll bring pizza” Steve probably needed it more than him.


End file.
